For many years, electromechanical relays have found wide and varied application in the telephone and related arts. Although recently solid state devices have replaced relays in many electronic and communications systems, relays still offer many advantages in terms of cost, reliability, and versatility, for example, in circuit applications where the highest operative speed is not a requirement. Relays have assumed a number of structural forms; conventionally, a relay construction contemplated here comprises an electromagnet, an armature, and a contact spring assembly, the armature being actuated to control the closing and/or opening of the contacts when the electromagnet is energized. The contact spring or springs are normally fixed at one end and are operated by an armature actuated card acting perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the springs at the other ends to deflect the ends into or out of electrical engagement with the opposing contacts.
Where relays are operated in conjunction with electronic devices, the reduction in physical size of the latter components has also dictated a miniaturization of the relays and a number of miniature relay forms are also known in the art. When relays are to be employed with printed circuit boards, for example, high packaging density requires that the relay present a minimum profile and mounting area. Other factors also significantly bear on the optimum design of a relay. Thus, problems of increasing operative speed, reducing power requirements, and simplifying its manufacture and adjustment to reduce cost, to name a few, are faced in the design of a relay construction intended for particular system applications and it is to these and other problems that the relay construction of the present invention is chiefly directed.